An investigation of marketing capabilities and upgrading performance of manufacturers in mainland China and Hong Kong

Although Chinese manufacturers are considered as latecomers or followers in global commodity chains, they have also been experiencing rapid progress in upgrading performance from own equipment manufacturing (OEM), original design manufacturing (ODM) to own brand manufacturing (OBM). Current literature on the global commodity chain has focused primarily on economic conditions that help explain manufacture upgrade while giving limited attention to what marketing capabilities support and sustain firm competitiveness through upgrading. This article examines eight different marketing capabilities to assess influence on manufacture upgrade performance. A survey of electronics manufacturers in mainland China and Hong Kong shows the significance of individual marketing capabilities and implications of their interdependency for manufacture upgrade performance. In particular, product development, marketing communication and channel management capabilities are crucial for manufacture upgrade. The results also highlight the importance of selective marketing capability development and the potential of secondary support for the relationship between substantive and dynamic capabilities.     

The Space Between: Towards a Typology of Interfirm Relations

ABSTRACT

Understanding and managing the relationships between firms is the central issue in business to business marketing. Some of the results of a program of research undertaken in Australia to study interfirm relations are used to develop an empirically based typology of interfirm relations focusing on the mix of cooperative and competitive elements coexisting in a relationship. Measures are developed of relationship cooperativeness and competitiveness and relations are classified into one of four types based on whether they score high or low on each dimension. A dynamic process model of interfirm relationships is developed as a basis for identifying the main factors driving relationship development. Measures of these factors form the basis for regression analysis to identify the characteristics of each of the four types of relations and examples of particular relationships are used to illustrate the characteristics identified.     

Building trust—Evidence from Vietnamese entrepreneurs

In the context of underdeveloped market institutions, entrepreneurs in a transition economy are forced to rely on trust-based partnerships. In the absence of effective market institutions and sufficient elapsed time, these entrepreneurial firms find a great need to actively and intentionally develop trust with their partners. The current literature, however, has virtually overlooked the possibility of trust being intentionally developed in interfirm relationships. This study develops a model that links trust development strategies, trust, and interfirm collaboration, and reports an empirical test of that model in Vietnam. The results support the general thesis that trust can be intentionally developed to facilitate interfirm relationships.     

Information technology-enabled interactions,mutual monitoring,and supplier-buyer cooperation: A network perspective

This study, which integrates the literature on IT (information technology)-enabled interactions and governance mechanisms in interfirm relationships, proposes facilitated access to a network of partners as a key feature that distinguishes IT-enabled interactions from those that occur offline. Specifically, IT-enabled interactions improve interfirm network embeddedness, which in turn improves firms' perceived ability to mutually monitor each other. In contrast to the unilateral monitoring prevalent in prior research, the network-induced mutual monitoring, which reduces information asymmetry and improves power equity, improves cooperation performance without the backfiring “reactance” effect. Moreover, this study offers conceptual distinctions between formal and informal IT-enabled interactions and their different roles in supplier-buyer cooperation. A sample of 240 manufacturing firms in China contributes to this research, and the results strongly support the hypotheses. Overall, this study provides a better understanding of the role of IT-enabled interactions in supplier-buyer cooperation.     

Supply Chain Collaboration,Integration, and Relational Technology: How Complex Operant Resources Increase Performance Outcomes

How firms coordinate efforts to collectively compete as supply chains is a key concern of supply chain management scholars and practitioners. One avenue, the development of collaborative relational capabilities that support supply chain integration, offers promise. However, the effectiveness of collaboration as a supply chain resource has been questioned due to concerns associated with collaborative technologies, and thus prior research has called for a deeper examination of the role that technologies play in facilitating integration. Employing a Service‐Dominant Logic view of hierarchical resources, grounded in Resource Advantage Theory, this research tests a model subsuming relationships between collaboration, integration, and interfirm coordination technologies, and their associated performance outcomes. A sample of 282 supply chain managers from a variety of industries were surveyed, with proposed relationships examined employing structural equation modeling. Test results indicate that collaboration and integration interact to form higher order resources that collectively influence firm performance outcomes through interfirm coordination technologies.     

Interfirm Relationships in Emerging Markets: The Importance of Relationships and Cultural Sensitivity

While interfirm relationship value has attracted considerable attention in a domestic market context, little research has examined international buyer-seller relationships. This is surprising, as interfirm relationships across national borders have become increasingly important due to growing liberalization of world trade. Even less research is found including emerging markets. This study use cases with Norwegian seafood export to Turkey as illustrations of the importance of relationship value and cultural sensitivity when conducting business with an emerging country such as Turkey. The data is based on in-depth interviews of Turkish importers.     

制造业出口高质量升级的内源动力：人力资本的结构演进视角

人力资本作为一种高质量型创新要素，对制造业出口高质量升级发挥着内源动力作用。基于人力资本的结构性问题和动态演进特性，建立一个理论模型论证人力资本结构由低级向高级的动态演进对出口产品技术含量的提升作用，利用2002—2017年面板数据进行实证考察。结果表明：第一，在考虑了人力资本的结构性和动态演进性之后，人力资本的结构演进对制造业出口高质量升级的促进作用更大，是人力资本存量的2倍之余。在一系列稳健性检验之后依然成立；第二，人力资本的结构演进更有利于东部地区制造业出口高质量升级；第三，门槛效应检验表明，当经济发展达到一定水平、市场竞争达到一定程度后，人力资本的结构演进对制造业出口高质量升级才会发挥更大的促进作用。     

Cross-border relationships and performance: Revisiting a complex linkage

Existing export performance models do not explicitly address the role of the importer in achieving economic success. This research explores importer role performance as a mediator between relationship quality and export performance, and uncovers the darker side of cross-border relationships by showing that relationship quality has concomitant opposite effects on export performance. The findings augment the relational paradigm to export performance by the demonstrating the vital importance of the importer role and by discriminating and explaining the positive and negative influences of interfirm relationship quality. The study uses structural equations modeling with data from two random samples of French and Slovene exporters to test hypotheses.     

Effects of Network Embeddedness on the Relationship Between Environmental Volatility and Interfirm Contracts

Purpose: This study examines the effects of an embedded network on the contractual relationship between exchange parties under conditions reflecting varying levels of environmental volatility and investigates the role of an important network factor—the embedded network—in the contractual relationship between manufacturers and their suppliers.

Methodology: The empirical test was conducted with manufacturing companies in the context of manufacturer–supplier relationships. Construct measures were based on existing measures and previous research. Measurement reliability and validity were established using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and an overall measurement model was assessed with structural equation modeling using LISREL.

Findings: The results of a survey of manufacturers indicate that firms in an embedded network preferred “soft” contracts even when they face volatile environments, whereas those facing volatile environments in a less embedded network preferred “hard” contracts with explicitly specified written requirements. Network partners carefully evaluated embedded networks (a critical factor that has not received enough attention) before forming contractual relationships in a network perceiving interfirm relationships differently.

Originality: The study introduces network embeddedness to explain governance mechanisms in volatile environments and shows that the explicit recognition of embedded network may facilitate the development of contracts with specific provisions as the contractual relationship evolves.     

东北地区两业联动的政策支撑体系研究

自2007年以来,物流业和制造业联动发展已经成为热点话题。本文通过建立计量模型来说明物流业和制造业的线性关系。虽然目前东北地区两业联动发展已经取得了一定的成绩:制造业企业改变原来的理念和模式,逐渐将制造业物流需求释放;物流企业整合资源,加大技术投入,逐步满足制造业的物流需求,两业融合日渐紧密。但是,东北地区两业联动发展中还存在政策制定与落实、协调发展等方面问题。东北地区制造业与物流业联动发展政策支撑体系的构建,有利于推动东北地区两业联动的快速、健康发展,以促进东北地区区域经济平稳发展、经济结构的转型和产业结构的升级。     

Formation of Reputation in Business Markets

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study adopts a relational perspective on reputation. We investigate how relationship characteristics impact a customer’s judgment of supplier reputation. We include characteristics at both the interfirm and interpersonal levels, and we additionally link these characteristics to interfirm trust in order to explore similarities and differences between reputation and interfirm trust.

Methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among firms in the Norwegian offshore oil and gas industry. We assessed the measurement model and tested the hypotheses by applying LISREL.

Findings: The results show that the customer’s dependence on the supplier, common knowledge, and interpersonal trust are positively related to reputation, while opportunism is negatively related to reputation. Reputation is positively linked to interfirm trust, and both reputation and interfirm trust impact the customer’s satisfaction with the supplier.

Research implications: This study sheds light on the role of relational mechanisms in reputation formation. It suggests that reputation primarily consists of cognitive components, while interfirm trust consists of more affective components. Reputation is an important factor in developing interfirm trust.

Practical implications: This study underscores the importance of a firm’s core relationships to customers for developing its reputation. Managers need to carefully develop their relationships to customers in such a way that these relationships are consistent with and confirm the reputation they want to build.

Originality/value: The study supports the view that relational characteristics play important roles in the formation of reputation in business markets.     

INTERORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Exchanges among firms operating in supply chains are complex due to relational embeddedness, i.e., the extent to which relationships, rather than economic rationality, govern firm‐to‐firm interactions. For many years interfirm relationships were assumed to be best managed via coercive tactics. However, for the last two decades much attention has been given in the literature to more relational forms of governance, and recent supply chain research examining relationship nature, magnitude, and type implies the need for an alternative symbiotic explanation for supply chain relationship effectiveness. To address this void in the literature, this article introduces the concept of interorganizational citizenship behaviors (ICB's). Based on a review of literature from multiple business domains, common types of ICB's are identified, and research hypotheses are developed and tested. Future research initiatives and implications for supply chain management practice are also provided.     

基于制造企业物流人才的现状分析

经济全球化需要物流全球化的支持,同时又给全球物流的发展提供广阔的空间,这对于新形势下的制造企业物流人才就有了更高的要求。本文通过对重庆市制造企业物流人才现状的分析,引出了当前制造企业物流人才的供需特点,最后提出了培养制造业物流人才的建议。     

Institutionalized place branding strategy,interfirm trust,and place branding performance: Evidence from China

This study investigates the relationships among institutionalized place branding strategy, interfirm trust, and place branding performance. Findings indicate that each of the institutionalized place branding strategies (regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive) has positive effects on interfirm trust. The relative predictability of these dimensions on interfirm trust also falls into a particular order: Normative is most predictable, followed by cultural-cognitive, then regulatory. Cultural-cognitive strategy can not only directly drive interfirm trust but also negatively moderate the effects of regulatory and normative strategies on interfirm trust. Finally, interfirm trust has a positive effect on place branding performance. These results altogether provide valuable insights into the effect of institutionalized place branding strategies on interfirm trust, which encourages firms to be collaboratively involved in place branding strategies.     

消费结构与经济增长互动关系分析

消费带动发展已经成为我国现阶段经济发展的迫切需要。在新一轮扩大内需、促进经济平稳较快增长的进程中,必须正确认识消费结构与经济增长的互动关系,即消费结构升级是经济增长的持久动力,经济增长是消费结构升级的基础,经济增长促进消费结构升级。     

Using Teams to Manage Collaborative Relationships in Business Markets

Within the context of collaborative relationships between supplier firms and customer firms, this paper examines the increasingly important, yet relatively neglected, area of marketing in the group-on-group mode of interfirm interaction in business markets. Central to this work is the delineation of important relational framing, structure, and process characteristics of group-on-group, interfirm interactions. In particular, five relational processes, called recurrent relationship management tasks are examined. Based upon the works of Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh (1987), Frazier, Spekman, and O'Neal (1988), and Anderson and Narus (1991) on relationship development, Kahneman and Tversky's (1979) seminal research on prospect theory, the efforts of Ruekert, Walker, and Roering (1985) on organizational structure, and recent studies in managerial decision- making, a series of propositions and a framework that link team structure and framing to relationship management task performance are presented. Along the way, those aspects of partnering and group-on-group relations that have implications for the design and implementation of marketing efforts are described. Finally, some suggestions for group-on-group research, which is inherently difficult to conduct, are offered.     

产业转移与产业升级的区域联动机制研究——兼论广东区域经济协调发展模式

基于国际产业转移与珠三角产业转移背景引发的相关问题思考,文章旨在探讨广东产业转移与产业升级的相互作用关系,并深入分析产业转移对珠三角地区产业升级,以及对欠发达地区经济发展与结构调整的具体影响,从而获得推动广东产业转移与产业升级,促进区域经济协调发展的相关政策启示。     

Sustaining relationships after opportunism and misunderstanding: the role of formalization and socialization

This study compares the effects of governance mechanisms on relationship continuity in the aftermath of exchange interruptions in interfirm relationships. We propose that cooperative relationships can be renewed by matching governance mechanisms (formalization or socialization) to specific types of exchange interruptions (opportunism and misunderstanding). Using data collected from two types of senior managers in 304 buyer firms in China (a total of 608 senior managers), we found that the effects of formalization and socialization on relationship continuity are contingent on exchange interruption type. Socialization is more effective than formalization in renewing relationships when the level of opportunism is high, while formalization works better than socialization when the level of misunderstanding is high. Based on our findings, we encourage firms to diagnose exchange interruption types and then choose a proper governance structure.     

常州市产业结构的演变路径及展望

建国后,常州市产业结构的演变路径分为三个阶段:工业体系的构建及工业基础的奠定阶段、工业化道路的积极探索阶段、产业结构的持续调整阶段。在产业结构的调整上经历了重点发展纺、轻、电和加工业及机电工业;提高轻纺、装备制造业;发展高新技术产业三个阶段。结合国际国内经济形势与产业政策发展趋势,常州市产业结构优化升级的愿景,即重点发展新能源和环保、创意产业,加快生产性服务业发展,偏重培养中小企业和民营科技型企业的技术创新能力,加强区域品牌建设,打造"绿色产品制造名城"。